The Holy Virgin Mary

The Holy Virgin Mary- Chris Ofili- 1996

• The colour in the background is very rich golds
• blue robes- traditional in depictions of the virgin Mary
• virgin Mary at centre of image with female genitalia collaged around her
• black Madonna
• incorporates elephant dung on one breast- inspired by a period of time spent in Zimbabwe
• classic christian iconography given a modern and multicultural perspective
• "hip-hop version of an old master painting"

• made in around the same time scale as Myra and exhibited in the same controversial exhibition
• CONTEXT: THIS EXHIBITION WAS CRITICISED BY MANY AND THOUGHT TO BE TRYING TO BOOST THE VALUE OF CERTAIN WORKS BY SHOWING THEM IN INSTITUTIONS AND PUBLIC MUSEUMS
• INCLUDED OTHER 'OFFENSIVE' WORKS BY TRACEY EMIN AND SARAH LUCAS
• UPON ENTRY TO THE EXHIBITION VIEWERS WERE WARNED "There will be works of art on display in the Sensation exhibition which some people may find distasteful. Parents should exercise their judgment in bringing their children to the exhibition. One gallery will not be open to those under the age of 18"
• obviously depicts religious iconography so is religious but also has a self proclaimed hip-hop element, as well as depicting a black Madonna so might appeal to people of colour
• Quote from Chris Ofili- I don’t feel as though I have to defend it. The people who are attacking this painting are attacking their own interpretation, not mine. You never know what’s going to offend people, and I don’t feel it’s my place to say any more.

• This relates to religion, as it depicts as holy figure and the ways that various people reacted to this- e.g. devout christians being offended by the juxtapose of 'pornographic' images being placed next to the virgin Mary, seen as anti-religion and anti-catholic
• For some context Chris Ofili was an altar boy in his youth and also didn't understand why people were offended as he said "it's only a picture of The Virgin Mary, not the actual thing"
• Could also relate to cultural issues as it was the elephant dung that offended many, but this was used to africanise the virgin Mary, and as a response to the artists time in Zimbabwe where he felt particularly connected to nature, animals and the earth
• Quotes that could relate are:

"Offence is clearly personal and idiosyncratic; but offence can also be the shared property of a community"

"I argue that cultural conflict has a distinctive local profile. Cities exhibit different profiles of contention contention, based in part on the demographic, institutional and political makeup of the city. Fights over art and culture are not just the result of clashing personalities or contending value; they also represent the democratic outcome of citizens negotiating the consequences of social change within their communities."

"My premise is straightforward, I believe controversies over art and expression are symptomatic of deeper community struggles. Artworks often serve as lightning rods, bringing forward and giving voice to underlying tension caused by social change. When communities experience a new influx of new populations, new institutions, new types of families, new patterns of leisure, and new technologies, community members fight over symbols such as art and culture as a way to assert themselves."

I think that I'll either end up using the second or third quote in my essay as I think they say the most, in the most concise way. They both really get across the tone of the rest of the extract and the way the author himself feels about the subject in a very non-biased way.

Myra

Myra- Marcus Harvey-1995:

• Black, white and grey
• mugshot style image with very intense gaze (puts you in position of those killed?)
• taken after her arrest
• iconic
• made using casts of children's hands (juxtaposing the "innocent child with the depraved world of adults"

• was made in 1995, Myra was on trial in 1966 so was made after the fact
• was part of the controversial exhibition 'sensation' exhibiting young British artists at the Royal Academy of Art in London 1997
• bought by Charles Saatchi
• very 'high brow' (maybe couldn't be understood? out of context art?
• would be seen by many as was in big exhibit, so would have possibly shocked and offended not only those that came to view the other works in the gallery but parent of murdered children specific to this case and to others
• seen by many as an important work that needed to be seen, but by others as vulgar and in poor taste

• this image relates directly to the idea of the relevancy of context in art as brought up by Erin Tapely in Scrutinized Art 
• says that from her position she can take into account a persons possible inspirations and look past that to see valuable art but that she realises that others could interpret differently
• just as the images discussed in Erin Tapelys article could offend people on the basis of religious, political, and pornographic offence, Myra could offend members of society. 
• this offence could be seen as societal, cultural or just pure tastelessness offence. Some could find just the image of this woman's face so distasteful that they cant see any reason for it
• Myra herself (the lady, not the painting) said that she would like for it to be taken down as the work was "a sole disregard not only for the emotional pain and trauma that would inevitably be experienced by the families of the Moors victims but also the families of any child victim."
• Quotes that could relate:

"He also added that those who viewed the poster regarded the woman as 'nude', which became the most objectionable part of the image. Having been conditioned perhaps by art history, I mentioned that I hardly saw the nudity factor of this poster, but of course I would respond as he had asked."

"The connection to Serranos work- allegedly about the numbing effects of "spirituality" in the United States- was uncanny. But I knew that anyone could interpret it differently."

"While people often maintain that nudity or violence in art should be allowed, they draw the line when such themes construed as pornographic, tasteless, or blasphemous. The real question is, what definition or parameters will ever satisfy everyone?"

I think the final quote is going to be the one I pick as it raises the question of where we should all draw the line with offence and what constitutes as tasteless in our society. Does the art need to be important of relevant in order to warrant its offensive nature?

Choosing My Three Images

This morning I've been doing a little bit more research into what images I can sue that will relate to my first essay. Although there were a lot of interesting political images I could have chosen from, I didn't want to focus too much on this theme as I don't think it was what interested me the most in the first essay. Instead I have gone for:

Myra, by Marcus Harvey:

This one relates directly to the understanding of context which was the thing I found the most interesting my essay, and also relates social value, another interesting concept I feel I could talk more about.

The Holy Virgin Mary, by Chris Ofili:

This one relates to the understanding of context and social value, as well as local profiles in terms of religion and race. This is something I only had a chance to touch briefly on in the first essay. 

Bonus- It also features some nudity from the Madonna herself and *gasp* some collaged vulvas! So it also fits quite well with the essay I looked at from the college teacher who talked about her experiences with context in art in schools.

Donald Trump 'Nope'- Unknown:

This one could prove a little difficult as I don't actually know who this is by and can't find out. It would appear that loads of these reproductions have been popping up as memes and no one is owning up to them, but I would like to try and make the point that the age of reproduction is having an effect on art (like we've been talking about in the COP lectures) and that now we have the internet, art like this can be totally faceless. This image was used in one of our lectures and relates to local profiles and political satire.

Image Analysis Worksheet

Image:	Descriptive analysis	Contextual analysis	Theoretical analysis
Steve Bell: David Cameron (conservative)	-bright cartoonist colours and style - hand-drawn satirical text - condom head - making an idiot out of Cameron and his campaign OR bringing to light his shortcomings?	-produced in the general election of 2010 -UK -Made and displayed in the Guardian -left wing, Labor, liberal influenced paper	Relates to cultural and political studies due to its depiction of a political figure and the way in which society reacted to it
Obama Campaign: Hope Shepard Fairey	-uses colours of the American flag - very strong portrait photo - messages of hope, change and to vote - became a bit iconic	-2008 presidential election -designed independently by Fairey and then approved by the Obama campaign -quickly went viral and was displayed on shirts and mugs etc. - inspiring as 1st president of color, inspired a new audience	Could relate to cultural and political studies again as it depicts a political figure and represents a rise to power. Also the way people reacted to it could say a lot about the country at that time and the opinions of people
Donald Trump ‘Nope’	-same patriotic colours as the Obama image -a headshot has also been used but its decidedly not Trumps best image -many different versions of this have been produced all using Trumps face and the word ‘nope’ but all of them are either anonymous or have been created by small scale creators in the internet -shows the buffoon side of Trump	-made during the run up to the 2016 Presidential election -made when everyone was jumping on the bandwagon of laughing at Trump but did it actually act as free exposure for him? -audience: could be trolls laughing at Trump but could equally be the people that happily voted for Trump knowing fully how stupid he appeared to most people	Again fits into the social and political categories, political because, obviously at the heart of this issue, this was the man that was running for president and really this could be seen as presidential campaign advertising. Social because most of the people consuming this image were making a mockery of him (rightly so) yet he still won? Does this mean that society can joke about someone and still respect them enough to elect them, or does it mean this just acted as free publicity for him?
Chris Ofili The Holy Virgin Mary	-bright colours and rich yellow/gold tones -traditional attribute of the virgin mary -female genatalia and elephant dung made it controversial -Black Madonna	-1996 -bought by Charles Saatchi at first -Chris Ofili- 1st black artist to win the Turner prize -hip hop version of traditional master’s paintings -dung used after inspiring trip to Zimbabwe -Chris Ofili was raised as a Roman Catholic	Could be seen to fit into society or cultural studies due to the fact that the main causes of controversy in this piece were the depiction of a black Madonna and the elephant dung and female genetialia added to the canvas. Society were seen to have taken strong vews on this, especially those trying to defend the Christian faith
Myra- Marcus Harvey	-black and white image appears to be a fuzzy newspaper image at first -in reality it’s made of casts of small children’s hands to form a mosaic in black, white and grey -headshot of Myra Hindley that was used prolifically in news articles and the media - ‘the iconic power that has come to it as a result of years of obsessive media reproduction -juxtaposes the innocent hands of children with the “depraved world of adults”	-1995) long after Myra’s conviction - first displayed at the Sensation exhibition in London in 1997 -attracted larger audiences than usual and because of this was said to have been using young children’s murders to attract crowds -protested against not only by artists from the same exhibition but by some of the victims mothers	Fits into cultural and social studies as it was how society reacted to it that was the big thing. "a sole disregard not only for the emotional pain and trauma that would inevitably be experienced by the families of the Moors victims but also the families of any child victim." Quote from Myra herself Could be seen to offend large audiences but is this something that needs to be seen and talked about? Starts conversation
Everyone I’ve Ever Slept With- Tracey Emin	-brightly colored tent inside which is stitched all the names of people the artist has slept with - resembles the shape of the Margate grotto which Tracey is familiar with - hand appliqued, it lists everyone from lovers to friends and family members meaning more specifically “everyone I’ve ever shared a bed with” -very personal and exposed	-1995 -also displayed at the Minky Manky show with much bigger artists work - displayed at the Sensation exhibition - another young brit artist from this list who seems to be so unpopular with society -art for everyone, not aimed at a specific audience	Relates to cultural studies and society as again, it was society’s reaction to this piece which made it both a success and controversial. People didn’t want to see it as art, many people of note laughing when it was destroyed in a fire, however many people did not stop to notice it was not just simply a list of all the men she’d ever slept with

GETTING MY BUM IN GEAR

Yesterday was our hand in for visual skills module so today is the day I've decided I really need to get my ass in gear and start thinking properly about getting my triangulation essay done. I got so into it last time I did some research into what makes art offensive but every time I've thought about it since my heads been really foggy. I'm really having trouble getting my thoughts into place and at first I'd just assumed it was this hand-in looming but now I think its just the prospect of writing an essay and whether or not its going to be good enough. I have my dyslexia test on the 9th of December though so hopefully I'll get a bit of help from that. I'm also going to go the the learning support people to get some help with structuring the essay as I'm really rubbish at that. 

On a brighter note I found a great fourth source today from a book called 'Cultural Appropriation and the Arts' which I think will really fit the theme of the other three sources. Now I'm going to start structuring my essay out of these sources and see how it goes. Depending on how much detail I can manage to go into on those four maybe I'll look into adding a fifth.

My (very messy) first 3 sources

The last source

Society Quote Essay Thingy

Today I had a bit of a break-through with the theme of my 1000 word essay. I decided to focus on what makes art offensive and how can we measure offence in its different forms. I was so pleased to think of this subject as thinking about the different ways in which people are offended was one of the things which sparked my interested most in the last COP seminar and its important I do and essay something that will hold my focus. I've found 3 sources on my own so far which I think are very viable and varied. 

Chronologies- Type: Production and Distribution

Today we had our second lecture on the history of type which although I've found confusing is also very interesting. 

Things I found interesting about this lecture:

We learnt a lot more about the key developments in type progression including parts on the Bauhaus movement, which I didn't realise encompassed buildings and architecture as well as graphic and product design. We also learnt the phrase "Form follows function", this put simply means that the shape of a building or object should be based upon its function or intended purpose for use. I like that this movement stripped down all the intricacy's of pre modern design and kept only the basics, which in turn made simplicity beautiful in its own right.

We also learnt more about significant people and events from the Pre Modern, Modern and Post Modern movements and I was particularly interested to find out that Helvetica font was designed by Max Miedinger in 1957 and was designed to highlight cutting edge Swiss technology. It was also essential in times of mass production and distribution to different countries as it was a clear font with no fuss that most could use and understand. (I've actually used Helvetica for this blog post and I really like it). 

Points to take away from this lecture:

- What is my stance on where type sits in our society?

• I think its important much like any other creative discipline to convey messages and make things accessible to other members of society
• I think although its been made more accessible to the masses, this is really a  good thing as it allows everyone to develop their thoughts and feelings on it

- What decisions am I going to make as a creative?

• I personally think I will make every effort to use my practice to portray things in a more stripped down way, keeping my bias to a minimum where necessary to let others make up their minds

- Do I think we can shape the world?

• Definitely, through good practice and the right exposure I think creativity can change the world, I think its just our choice how we change it.

Studio Session

On Wednesday we had our studio session with Jamie where we got into pairs and discussed our chosen 20 images relating to our quotes. This was so so helpful because it meant that we discussed loads of topics surrounding the quote I'd not contemplated. These are some of the most interesting ones that came up:

1. In relation to the Instagram makeup artist image I brought in, and the negative comments on some graphic makeup art, is it responsible for people to let their children have Instagram knowing that they might see this content, and if thats the case, do they then have the right to leave negative feedback blaming the graphic content? You don't really just come across things like this on Instagram, you have to search for it.

2. Does the context of the art make it more less offensive? If you can explain why you've done it, does that make it ok? 

3. Does where the art is placed (exhibit, online etc.) make it any more or less serious/ valid/ worthy or unworthy of judgement?

4. Does not being able to understand art put people off and make it seem scary/ offensive? 

All of these seem to be good starting points for more exploration into the subject, as a beginning task I took my images and organised them into categories of which kind of offence they could cause:

Political/ religious:

Gory/ ugly/ crude:



Hard to understand/ abstract:




I noticed some running themes in the categories such as the themes of sexualisation and animal rights in the second one. Next I intend to look into whether or not its a bit patronising to theorise whether or not not being able to understand art makes it confusing and subsequently irritating to some people.

Finding Research Sources

Today we had a seminar on how we can find research sources for any writing we have to do using the sources that are available to us. We were given a list and had to try and find three resources for each method of research relating to our chosen quote. My quote is the one on society by David Shrigley, "In the studio the artist has no responsibility. But when the artist displays his work the situation changes."

From completing this exercise, I have determined that research is hard and takes a lot of time! But that I really like google scholar as it helps you find much more short, concise articles about exactly what you're looking for. In future I need to remember to designate time to doing only research and doing it well. 

History Of The Image Lecture

Today we had a lecture on a 20,000 year, non linear history of the image starting by looking at the Lascaux cave paintings in France. There isn't much that is known factually about these caves or the paintings in them, but they are thought to be around 17,300 years old and consist mainly of images of large animals that are known to have lived in that area at that time. Although some people believe that they are simply records of what happened during the course of peoples days, there is also another theory that these images were some kind of attempt to communicate with a higher power through the use of ritualistic symbols and signs. This would make some sense since when you look at the paintings although some are very linear and simple, others are done using a series of small dots and seem to portray nothing in particular. Its theorised that maybe they were attempts through mystic ritual to better their hunting attempts in future. 

What I found interesting was that these images can be almost compared to images made by Rothko or Pollock, in the way that their process seems to be chaotic and have no meaning to it (in the case of the cave paintings this is because we have no historical reference to that time) but in actual fact they all have a system and an ideology behind them. For example in Hans Namuths film 'Jackson Pollock at work in his studio' from 1950, we can see that Pollock works out what he wants to put where on the canvas before starting, where he rolls the canvas out on the floor so that he can closer to it. He even walks along and over the canvas whilst he paints almost so that he can further partake in the image being made. What links these two very different images being made is that the could both be described as being made in a state of surrealist Automatism, which is the act of letting go of the conscious thought making process and letting the unconscious mind have free reign with what is being created. Both of these processes look otherworldly and subsequently throw the viewer into an emotive mindset while observing them as this unconscious thought process makes these images all the more powerful. 

Both of these images are successful in their own right, but Pollock was a massive commercial success, even being employed by the CIA to create some works to express to the rest of the world the freedom of America through the free art style. But is art that is more organically made in this kind way automatically 'better art'? For instance, when Stalin came to power in the late 1920's, he banned any type of avaunt guard modern art simply because he thought it was more elitist, pretentious and that people couldn't understand it so what was the point in it? He preferred only social realist styles which portrayed Russia as something very different to what it was, however, by banning this 'pretentious' art and insisting on realism, you could argue that he wasn't trying to oppress anyone, but simply to make art easier to understand for everyone. However through Americas campaign to make surrealism seem like the beacon of freedom and 'high-brow' society, some people now always associate realist styles with being out of touch and possibly more 'low-brow' styles. 

I would contemplate whether, just because something has a bit more of a thought out process behind it and is done in a very linear way, if it makes the experience of seeing it first hand any less magical. Having had a very linear approach in my own work (now trying to train myself out of it), I find it a little insulting to think that the only 'good art' can be free, unconscious expressions on paper. Just because you mark it out with pencil before hand, does it make the intention any less free?

I've gone off on a bit of a tangent on the subject but mainly in addition to discussing this idea, we also talked about the power of symbols and images in popular culture and how overall, image making can be a very powerful political, societal and cultural tool, so as creators we need to learn how to use it diplomatically and creatively to inform our practice.